Lake Worth defeats Fort Worth Western Hills, creates separation in District 6-4A D1

Coming into Thursday’s game at Farrington Field, Lake Worth and Fort Worth Western Hills were ranked third and fourth in District 6 4A-D1, respectively. With only three games left in the regular season, both teams are after a spot in the playoffs.

The Lake Worth Bullfrogs took home this win, 49-21, over the Western Hills Cougars.

“For us, we’ve just got to keep playing,” Western Hills head coach Blake Moilan said. “we know that if we get five district wins, we are in, four district wins we need some help. Right now we are at three so we need to get one more. At least one more, so we are just going to get ready for Kennedale and play that one.”

Now, Lake Worth has two games remaining. They’ll face Dunbar next week and Eastern Hills to wrap up the regular season.

“It keeps us right there in the top three right now as far as playoffs go,” Lake Worth head coach Jerry Prieto said. “We have two big games left.”

Missteps for both teams riddled the first quarter as it ended scoreless.

Early on in the second quarter, Bullfrogs’ running back Damion Hopkins ran for 85 yards. This resulted in the first touchdown of the night by the Bullfrogs with 11:09 remaining in the second quarter. The second touchdown for the Bullfrogs came with 8:00 remaining in the second quarter. Fullback Jose Meza ran from the 40-yard line to the end zone.

The Bullfrogs recovered a fumble during the Cougar’s next drive. At 3:10, Hopkins slipped through the Cougars’ defense, running 45 yards into the end zone. The extra point was good by Kicker Humberto Carranza.

At 1:20 in the second quarter, the Bullfrogs added another touchdown.

Just before halftime, Carranza made a field goal at 0:25. This would conclude the first half.

The performance during the first quarter is what led to the locker room discussions at intermission.

“The message was just keep playing, fix the mistakes that we made, and just keep playing and go play with some pride,” Moilan said.

And the message seemed to work. The Cougars started the third quarter off strong with wide receiver D’Mareay Hornsby running the ball 60 yards. leaving his team only 8 yards away from the end zone. This set up the Cougar’s first touchdown.

At 8:19 Lester Cole received a pass from quarterback Kyu Wilson from the 12-yard line. The score was 29-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars’ Hornsby recovered an onside kick at the Bullfrogs 29-yard line. With 4:55 remaining in the third quarter, the Cougars scored again. Wilson passed the ball to TJ Hammon for a touchdown. The score was then 29-14.

On the next drive, the Bullfrogs scored a rushing touchdown and increased their lead to 35-14.

With 8:25 remaining in the game, Wilson passed the ball to Kaream Williams for a touchdown. The score was 35-21 and Western Hills was closing in on Lake Worth.

“I’m proud of the guys for coming out in the second half and playing hard,” Moilan said.

However, the Bullfrogs were determined to deepen their lead.

“I think we just have to continue to improve day by day,” Prieto said. “Continue to understand our offense, defense and special teams a little more and continue to be physical in practice.”

Bullfrogs’ wide receiver Charles Williams scored a touchdown of his own with 6:30 remaining in the game. The score was then 42-21.

The final score of the night came with 3:13 remaining. Bullfrogs free safety Sarcosie Kabila had a fumble return for a touchdown.

Up next for Lake Worth is a matchup at home against first-ranked Dunbar. This game will be on Friday, Oct. 27.

“They are improving every week I don’t think we have peaked yet, so I am excited to see what happens in these next few weeks,” Prieto said.

Western Hills will play away at second-ranked Kennedale on Friday, Oct. 27.

“I still don’t think we’ve played our best football of the year yet, so we’ve got to keep playing,” Moilan said.